In this case a dealer had a problem with yarn popping out of the carpet in random locations throughout the product. This condition is called sprouting and it occurs when an individual yarn comes out of the carpet. This may occur by something snagging a yarn, for example a sharp edge on a high heel shoe or a burr on a vacuum cleaner. When yarns sprout for no apparent reason, like just walking on the carpet, then there’s another problem.

The industry standard for tuft bind is 6.25 pounds for loop pile carpets and 3 pounds for cut pile carpet, this is the amount of force it takes to pull one yarn out of each of these respective carpet types. The dealer in this case was told that the carpet had yarns popping out of it because it was not glued directly to the substrate. If he had glued the carpet down direct, he was told, the glue he used to hold the carpet to the floor would also have increased the tuft bind. This statement makes sense only if you are in a hallucinating state of mind, you say you are on a first name basis with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus is your first cousin.

First of all if you have yarn popping out of a carpet you have to have a physical cause. If the yarns are at the edge of the carpet and it is a stretch in installation the pulls or sprouts are most likely from the kicker being used too aggressively. If the yarn pulls are at the seams, they are most likely from no seam sealer having been used or used improperly or the seam not being made properly. If the pulls are in the middle of the carpet you should check the bottom of the vacuum cleaner first to see if it has any burrs, gouges, or sharp areas that could pull at the carpet. You should ask about the type of traffic the carpet receives and if it is of the aggressive nature this may be causing the problem and also it may be the wrong carpet for the application. A flimsy piece of goods, that is inexpensive and not designed to perform in a heavy use environment should not be considered defective if it is the wrong product failing to live up to expectations.

After all of this and more you next have to look at the carpet itself to determine if, in fact, it is defective. If the yarns are sprouting randomly in the field of the carpet, that is in the middle areas and primarily the traffic areas, the problem could very well be with the carpet. It is very possible the yarns are not anchored properly into the carpet which can be quite common, especially for step over stitch products. The cause of the poor tuft bind is the lack of latex encapsulation on the yarn pulled up closest to the primary backing. The yarn with the least amount of latex is the one most likely to sprout. A tuft bind test will not always show this since only a small piece of carpet is used for the test and it may be a piece that doesn’t have a problem. Only by taking a large piece of the carpet, preferably one that is the entire width of the carpet and at least a foot long, that’s 12 feet by 1 foot, can you do an accurate test to determine if the carpet is inherently defective and why.

It doesn’t matter if the carpet has been glued to the floor or not when sprouting is an issue. The only significant difference would be that a carpet installed over a pad that allowed a lot of vertical movement, would flex the carpet more in the traffic lanes and cause the yarns to loosen and pop out sooner than they might have if the carpet was glued to the floor. In no way will glueing the carpet directly to the substrate assist in increasing the tuft bind. If the manufacturer or finisher couldn’t get the latex into and around the yarn pulled up closest to the primary backing the installer isn’t going to do it by glueing the carpet to the floor. If, by some fluke of nature, the adhesive got up into the carpet that far as to go into the yarn closest to the primary backing, it would probably be coming through the face of the carpet. We just had a case like that too and it was also a manufacturing related problem. The act of installing carpet by glueing it to the floor is not supposed to miraculously enhance or complete the finishing process initiated by the manufacturer. Direct glue down installations do not prevent sprouting.

By making the statement to the dealer that the carpet should have only been installed by glueing it directly to the substrate prevents it from ever being installed by stretching it in or installing it with the laminated method of installation, that is glueing the pad down and then glueing the carpet to the pad. Since this was an Action Bac product it is not limited to any type of installation. If it could only be installed one way, such as a unitary backed carpet, which can only be glued direct, then there should have been instructions stating so. The statement made to the dealer only indicates the messenger hasn’t a clue about carpet construction or installation.

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